1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to inflow control devices used for producing hydrocarbon or injecting water with uniform flow across a reservoir, and more particularly to retrievable inflow control devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following descriptions and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Intelligent flow control valves with variable chokes are typically run above the screen or inside of the screen for controlling the flow from each zone of interest. A hydraulic control line or an electric cable is run from the surface to the valve for operating the flow control valve. Intelligent completions are generally complex and expensive. Therefore, permanent mounted inflow control devices (ICD) are run in the completion as an integral part of the screen or slotted liner in order to simplify the completion and reduce cost. The choke size of the ICD is predetermined at the surface before installation in the well based on the knowledge of the reservoir. However, it has not been possible to vary the choke size of the permanent mount ICD without pulling the completion out of the well.